Insurance wins off the back of super

Superannuation insurance premiums accounted for the lion’s share of total life office revenue received during the March quarter 2003, according to theAustralian Prudential Regulation Authority(APRA).

With close to 90 per cent (87.8 per cent) of revenue flow the result of super members protecting their nest eggs, APRA says the figures - from the latest edition of the regulator’s Life Insurance Trends to the end of March 2003 - show the growing symbiosis between life insurance business and superannuation.

APRA found superannuation assets backing Australian policyholder liabilities in life office statutory funds represented 85.9 per cent of the total assets in life office statutory funds.

According to the peak regulator the revenue flows continued a gradual upwards trend - up from only 60 per cent in June 1988 with assets now standing at $151.4 billion at March 2003.

According to statistics gathered from 40 registered life insurers, total life office statutory fund assets backing Australian policyholder liabilities were $176.4 billion at the end of March 2003.

This represented a decrease of 2 per cent for the March quarter and 6.6 per cent for the previous 12 months.

APRA says assets derived from ordinary business have remained in a range of between $23.4 billion and $34.9 billion since June 30, 1988.

Life office premiums for the quarter were $7.4 billion, a decrease of 19.7 per cent on the March 2002 quarter, with premiums decreasing 3.9 per cent to $38.6 billion for the year to March 2003.

Meanwhile policy payments made by life offices were $8 billion for the quarter, a decrease of 18.5 per cent on the previous quarter, while the year to March 2003 showed an increase of 4.7 per cent to $38.1 billion.